India says it thwarted attacks by Pakistan-backed militants, arrested over 200 operatives
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Indian security agencies arrested more than 200 "terror operatives" linked to Pakistan in a single multi-state operation conducted across 14 states on August 12, in what Home Minister Amit Shah called one of the largest such crackdowns in years
- Amit Shah identified the network as the "Shahzad Bhatti Network" and said it was backed by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), framing the sweep as having thwarted planned "subversive attacks" around India's Independence Day
- The August 12 operation was timed three days before India marked 80 years of freedom from British colonial rule, with Shah posting the announcement on X
- Agencies recovered pistols, live cartridges, grenades bearing Pakistan Ordnance Factory markings, and crude bombs, giving New Delhi documented physical evidence tying the cache to Pakistani state-linked arms production
- Pakistan's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment; Pakistan has historically denied Indian allegations that it backs militant groups blamed for attacks in India
- The escalation comes after a four-day military conflict last year between the nuclear-armed neighbors, triggered by India's accusation that Pakistani attackers killed 26 men at a tourist destination in Indian Kashmir
Why it matters: India publicly rolled out documentary evidence — Pakistan Ordnance Factory–marked grenades plus a named ISI-linked network and 200 arrests — to build an internationally pressable case against Islamabad, timed to its most symbolic national holiday. For Pakistan, the accusation lands at a moment when its own counter-militancy commitments are already being tested by Houthi attacks on its nationals in the Red Sea, sharpening the diplomatic cost of being cast as a terror sponsor.
Ask SkimNews
